Figure In Pope Trial Home

SOFIA, BULGARIA — Three years and four months after his arrest on charges of conspiring to kill Pope John Paul II, Bulgarian airline employee Sergei Antonov returned home in triumph Tuesday night.

Antonov, the only one of three accused Bulgarians in the case who attended the trial, was acquitted along with the others last Saturday by a Rome court for lack of sufficient evidence. The ``Bulgarian Connection`` in the shooting surfaced in 1982 when Antonov was arrested in Rome on conspiracy charges.

On his arrival here, Antonov said little, but he was mobbed outside the Sofia Airport`s VIP lounge by Bulgarians who kissed him and showered him with flowers. His mother, wife and daughter met him.

In a welcoming ceremony, Velichko Velichkov, head of Balkanair, the Bulgarian government-owned airline, described Antonov`s arrest as part of ``an evil anti-Bulgarian plot, a provocation with deep enemy-like antipathy towards socialism and against detente.``

Two Turk codefendants had to remain in Italy because the prosecutor has appealed their acquittals. The prosecutor recommended Antonov`s acquittal.

Antonov had been accused by Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish terrorist who is serving a life sentence for shooting the Pope in 1981.